Local polls to be withheld, MVA to prolong terms of Civic Bodies

As the issue of Other Backward Class (OBC’s) continuous not to be resolved the Chief Minister of Maharashtra Uddhav Thackeray in an all-party meeting decided that the local body elections to be held next year, will not take place unless and until the Other Backward Class (OBC) quota is restored. In the meeting, it was decided that the State of Maharashtra will look into the empirical data on OBCs and will urge that the elections are postponed by two to three months.  

 

“It would not be possible to appoint administrators at all the places as there are many local body elections that are going to take place in the next year. As diverse parties are in power in different local bodies, it may be possible that the term of the respective corporations will be extended for over three months till the empirical data comes through,” stated the Shiv Sena Minister. 

 

The upcoming local body elections out of which the most important for the Shiv Sena party are the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, as the party has been in power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for more than a time frame of 30 years. The elections for 10 major Municipal Corporations are scheduled for next year in February. 

 

The Shiv Sena minister further stated that the state was going to seek empirical data on Other Backward Class (OBC) representation from the state backward class commission, as required by the Supreme Court. In a recent decision made by the SC, where it bashed the 27 percent OBC quota for local body elections stating that the quota for SCs and STs together combined should not exceed 50 percent. The state had reviewed the petition which was dismissed.